January 17, 2025 – U.S. research universities conduct cutting-edge inquiry to help meet the world’s greatest challenges. Central to the success of these institutions are undergraduate students: the future scientists, scholars, and leaders who will help our society advance. Longstanding efforts to expand access to higher education have created new opportunities for students – yet more work remains to ensure equitable outcomes for all.
The Association for Undergraduate Education at Research Universities (UERU) marks its 25th anniversary with the launch of the Shirley and Bob Kenny Founders Fund to support research university leaders and their teams who are making bold, systemic changes to their undergraduate education programs. The fund seeks to meet “the equity/excellence imperative” – an expression coined by the Boyer 2030 Commission to acknowledge that “excellence without equity (privilege reproducing privilege) is not true excellence, and equity (mere access) without excellence is unfulfilled promise.”
UERU’s new fund recognizes its founders, Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny, chair of the 1998 Boyer Commission and then-president of Stony Brook University, and her husband, Dr. Robert W. Kenny, who wrote the Boyer Commission’s landmark Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America’s Research Universities. The original Reinvention Center, established in 2000, has evolved into UERU, a national association of 125 U.S. research universities that, together, serve nearly 3 million undergraduate students. UERU members engage and partner with schools, colleges, and other universities nationwide.
UERU renewed its commitment to our founders’ vision by convening a Boyer 2030 Commission to address changed and emerging circumstances. The Equity Excellence Imperative: A 2030 Blueprint for Undergraduate Education at U.S. Research Universities offers bold recommendations for data-driven change across research university undergraduate education and has been downloaded over 30,000 times.
Funds will be used to support a series of projects designed to engage research university leaders in implementing the Boyer 2030 Commission’s recommendations across their universities. The recommendations are grounded in decades of rigorous research conducted by the expert Commissioners and are linked to improved student retention and graduation as well as post-graduation outcomes, such as students’ career and world readiness.
For example:
- UERU’s Advising Administration Community of Practice, which is undertaking new research into collaborative advising models that will improve equitable student outcomes.
- An implementation community (launching mid-2025) for equitable and effective teaching practices in undergraduate STEM education, as articulated by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)
- A multi-state collaborative (in development) to improve transfer student outcomes, using tools from UERU’s Curricular Analytics Project
UERU invites philanthropic support from those who value and can help strengthen undergraduate education at research universities nationwide. For more information about the fund, please visit: https://ueru.org/about/support-our-work. Inquiries may be directed to Steve Dandaneau, UERU Executive Director and Associate Provost, Colorado State University (steven.dandaneau@colostate.edu) or Julia Michaels, Director of UERU Development and Strategic Partnerships (Julia.michaels@colostate.edu).
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About UERU
The Association for Undergraduate Education at Research Universities (UERU, pronounced “You-Roo”) is dedicated to excellence and access in undergraduate education by sharing and developing expertise across member institutions and other higher education organizations. The UERU membership is comprised of 125 research universities across the U.S., which collectively serve nearly 3 million undergraduate students. UERU helps its members stay current and forward-thinking, fosters connections across academic units, and enlists leaders in common projects to meet the challenges and opportunities facing undergraduate programs. Learn more at ueru.org.
For media inquiries, please contact homeoffice@ueru.org.
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